By doing eye exercises every day, you can improve poor vision due to astigmatism. You don't need to resort to eye surgery or surrender to a lifetime of eyeglasses. There are natural and easy ways to repair your vision yourself. Practice these eye exercises and a few more, and take a daily eye vitamin.
“Astigmatism can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, and refractive surgery — like LASIK. It also can be corrected during cataract surgery,” Gary Heiting, OD, an optometrist and senior editor at All About Vision tells WebMD Connect to Care.
If the astigmatism is very mild (and doesn't affect your vision), you might not need glasses or contacts. Your eye care specialist will measure any changes in your eye during future eye exams. Astigmatism can change over time and get worse, so you might need glasses or contacts eventually, even if you don't at first.
While astigmatism cannot be cured, glasses and contact lenses can be used to treat the blurry vision that results from having astigmatism. For those wishing for a more permanent solution to blurry vision, refractive surgery is required.
Worsening astigmatism can be treated with corrective lenses and surgical procedures like LASIK or lense replacement. Talk to your doctor to find the best option for you.
One natural way to treat astigmatism is to be aware of your head tilting. If you're tilting to one side, try tilting your head in the opposite direction of what feels most comfortable. It will feel uncomfortable at first. Your muscles are used to doing the wrong thing and need retraining.
Astigmatism frequently worsens with age. Your cornea can become more irregular due to pressure from your eyelids as they lose muscle tone. Astigmatism generally stays stable until your turn 50. After then, your lens curvature progressively worsens each decade.
Sometimes children outgrow astigmatism as they get older. If young children have a lot of astigmatism in one or both eyes, though, it can lead to another condition called amblyopia. Amblyopia is when the brain does not learn to see clearly with one or both eyes. When it's caught early, the condition can be treated.
Despite their popularity, there is no scientific evidence that eye exercises can fix astigmatism, farsightedness, or nearsightedness, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Like eyeglasses, contact lenses can correct most astigmatism. They are available in a variety of types and styles. Contact lenses are also used in a procedure called orthokeratology. In orthokeratology, rigid contact lenses are worn during the night while sleeping until the curvature of the eye evens out.
If left untreated, astigmatism may cause eyestrain, headaches, and blurry vision. If you have astigmatism you may not see objects in the distance or near without some form of distortion.
Astigmatism Treatment. Glasses or contacts can correct almost all cases of astigmatism. But if you have only a slight astigmatism and no other vision problems, you may not need them. If you have a common level of astigmatism, you'll probably have corrective lenses, like glasses or contacts, or surgery.
Wearing glasses can't make astigmatism worse, even if they are the wrong prescription. Astigmatism is caused by the shape of the eye's cornea or lens, and glasses can't change those.
Eating a more nutrient-rich diet can also help halt or prevent astigmatism. Some good sources of vitamin A are sweet potatoes, spinach, carrots, milk, fish and mangos. For vitamin B, try some eggs, dairy foods, salmon and trout.
Astigmatism may be related to low Vitamin D.
When we squint it creates the same effect as looking through a pinhole. Basically only a small amount of focused central light rays are allowed into the eye. This prevents the unfocused light rays in the periphery from reaching the retina. The result is better vision.
While most of the patients who get LASIK for astigmatism notice a difference right away, it usually takes your eyes about three to six months to fully recover and heal.
Astigmatism may be present from birth, or it may develop after an eye injury, disease or surgery. Astigmatism isn't caused or made worse by reading in poor light, sitting too close to the television or squinting.
Can You go Blind with Astigmatism? Astigmatism can lead to reduced vision, but blindness is not a risk. However, it may be difficult for people with astigmatism to read and write without glasses or contacts because of the blurriness in the distance.
Astigmatism is a very common childhood vision problem. Research supported by the National Institutes of Health indicates that about 23% of very young children (from 6 months to 1 year old) have it, but many children grow out of it. By the time they reach school age (5 or 6 years old), only about 9% have astigmatism.
The two main types of astigmatism are corneal and lenticular. A corneal astigmatism happens when there's a defect or distortion in the cornea. A lenticular astigmatism happens when there's a distortion in the lens. Astigmatisms are sometimes also described as regular or irregular.
Astigmatism can distort lights in several ways, and instead of a clear image, you might see: Streaky lights. Haloed lights. Blurry lights.
Rubbing your eyes is one habit that could cause astigmatism. In fact, frequent rubbing could eventually change the shape of your corneas. Rubbing also increases your risk of keratoconus, a condition that makes the corneas thin and cone-shaped.